Audio pronounciation not available
About Audrey: When Audrey Couloumbis was two, her mother remarried and her father left Illinois to work as an electrician for traveling shows such as Holiday on Ice, Dancing Water, and the Kalanag magicians. By the time he settled in New York City when Couloumbis was 14, she had already spent years flying alone to see him in such varied locations as Paris, Brazil, Hawaii, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Switzerland, Detroit, and Houston. Often left to fend for herself in hotel rooms while her father worked, Couloumbis would wander the halls, making friends with the other hotel guests. At home in Illinois, she would do the same, exploring the countryside on her bicycle. This openness to meeting strangers has served her well in her writing, which she describes as “an act of deep listening” to her characters: “To be there when it feels like the characters start to tell the story.” When the characters are quiet, Couloumbis involves herself in other kinds of writing, or in housework and gardening, until she feels they are ready. She also enjoys driving down different roads in her neighborhood for the first time, building stone walls for her gardens, and rearranging the furniture of the house she shares with her patient husband. Visit Audrey Couloumbis's Web site at www.audreycouloumbis.com.
Jake
I was unable to find a book trailer for Jake. If you find one that is appropriate, email the link to jothebookgirl@gmail.com Summary:
A heartwarming holiday story from Audrey Couloumbis, the Newbery Honor–winning author of Getting Near to Baby. With beautiful writing and an endearing young narrator so honest and full of hope that you can't help but fall in love with him, Audrey Couloumbis tells a story, of a young boy and the grandfather that he’s just getting to know, that will make readers laugh and cry and, most of all, appreciate the gift of family.
It's a few days before Christmas when ten-year-old Jake's mom breaks her leg, ending up in the hospital. For as long as Jake can remember, it's been just him and his mom. So with no one else to look after him, the hospital contacts the gruff granddad that Jake only knows through awkward twice-a-year phone calls. When Granddad shows up, he's nothing like Jake expected. And he brings a dog with him—a nightmare dog, Jake thinks at first. But as Jake gets to know his grandfather and a makeshift family of friends and neighbors comes together around him and his mom, he realizes that this might not be such a bad Christmas after all.
Hardcover, 162 pages
Audio pronounciation not available
About Audrey:
When Audrey Couloumbis was two, her mother remarried and her father left Illinois to work as an electrician for traveling shows such as Holiday on Ice, Dancing Water, and the Kalanag magicians. By the time he settled in New York City when Couloumbis was 14, she had already spent years flying alone to see him in such varied locations as Paris, Brazil, Hawaii, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Switzerland, Detroit, and Houston. Often left to fend for herself in hotel rooms while her father worked, Couloumbis would wander the halls, making friends with the other hotel guests. At home in Illinois, she would do the same, exploring the countryside on her bicycle.
This openness to meeting strangers has served her well in her writing, which she describes as “an act of deep listening” to her characters: “To be there when it feels like the characters start to tell the story.” When the characters are quiet, Couloumbis involves herself in other kinds of writing, or in housework and gardening, until she feels they are ready. She also enjoys driving down different roads in her neighborhood for the first time, building stone walls for her gardens, and rearranging the furniture of the house she shares with her patient husband.
Visit Audrey Couloumbis's Web site at www.audreycouloumbis.com.
I was unable to find a book trailer for Jake. If you find one that is appropriate, email the link to jothebookgirl@gmail.com
Summary:
A heartwarming holiday story from Audrey Couloumbis, the Newbery Honor–winning author of Getting Near to Baby. With beautiful writing and an endearing young narrator so honest and full of hope that you can't help but fall in love with him, Audrey Couloumbis tells a story, of a young boy and the grandfather that he’s just getting to know, that will make readers laugh and cry and, most of all, appreciate the gift of family.
It's a few days before Christmas when ten-year-old Jake's mom breaks her leg, ending up in the hospital. For as long as Jake can remember, it's been just him and his mom. So with no one else to look after him, the hospital contacts the gruff granddad that Jake only knows through awkward twice-a-year phone calls. When Granddad shows up, he's nothing like Jake expected. And he brings a dog with him—a nightmare dog, Jake thinks at first. But as Jake gets to know his grandfather and a makeshift family of friends and neighbors comes together around him and his mom, he realizes that this might not be such a bad Christmas after all.
Hardcover, 162 pages
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